Are you Prepared for Disasters?

A survey conducted by Lake Research Partners and commissioned by the ASPCA reveals that more than one-third (35 percent) of cat and dog owners don’t have a disaster preparedness plan in place. Do you have a plan? If not, now is a great time to work on one. September is National Preparedness Month, when FEMA encourages citizens to take action by making an emergency plan with their families and their pets.

Emergency Kit

When a disaster strikes, you may not have time to gather up everything you need for your pets. A basic emergency kit ensures everything is in one place if you need to evacuate or that you have it on hand while stores are closed while you shelter in place. Collect the following items in a large bin or even a five-gallon bucket for easy storage:

Where to Evacuate

If you do need to evacuate due to disaster, where will you go? Check with your local emergency management agency to see if your local evacuation centers make provisions for pets.

If you need to leave your home in case of disaster, can you and your cat visit a friend or family member in another state? You can even be each other’s evacuation plan!

Keep in mind that if you need to go to a hotel or motel, many aren’t pet friendly. You can check on options at Go Pet Friendly so that you have an idea of places that might accept your four-legged family members.

Comments

My human has about half a plan, and even that half is thanks to her traveling with me! Honestly, we have nowhere to go – she has not figured that part out yet because we have no family and our friends are all pretty far away except for one really good friend of my human’s who lives so close to us that if something happened here, she would probably have to evacuate too!

This is such an important post and we have recently set up a disaster kit for all of us furries and humans. The funny part is the humans tend to break into their emergency kit even in non-emergency situations. My mom keeps some snacks in the kit just in case – but my dad and little human sissy have been known to sneak in and eat them. It’s a running joke in our house that we have to keep replenishing the emergency food kit.

Great information! Mommy needs a better plan, too. She does have our records together, as well as harnesses and leashes, which she keeps in a carrier. She got scared when hurricane Sandy hit our area and we were ready to go with food and everything else (and a toothbrush for her.) But we don’t have an evacuation plan.

Great post however we’re screwed if there ever was a disaster where we had to leave the area fast since neither peep has a car. We could stay with relatives but have no way to get there especially if road are blocked. For short term evacuation, one of our centers is just across the street and we’re always certain it’s pet friendly since pets live in the building.

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